Label Review.

2019 album also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

Brain child of singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner Justin Vernon, American indie folk band from Wisconsin Bon Iver’s new release ‘i,i’ is their most expansive, joyful and generous album to date. On his fourth album, Justin Vernon reassembles the familiar Bon Iver elements like a cubist collage, with his voice fearlessly front and center. The result is his most honest and forthright music ever.

All the familiar elements of Bon Iver (the band also consists of Mike Noyce, Sean Carey and Matt MacCaughan) are here—impressionist swells of sound, impenetrable-yet-tender lyrics, mesmerising studio tricks—and they are buoyed by Vernon’s supple baritone, the instrument he knows how to manipulate best. Acoustic guitar, horns, and piano return to prominence alongside the jittery electronics and synths that Vernon has lately favored. But the mood he conjures with these elements feels new. These songs don’t swallow you whole with grandeur; they look outward, leaving some room for the rest of the world.

The name 'Bon Iver' (pronounced "bon ee-VAIR") is a play on the French phrase 'bon hiver' meaning 'good winter'. If ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ (2007) was the crisp, heart-strung isolation of a northern Winter; ‘Bon Iver’ (2011) the rise and whirr of burgeoning Spring; and ‘22, A Million’ (2016), a blistering, ‘crazy energy’ Summer record, ‘i,i’ completes the cycle: an autumn record - autum ncoloured, ruminative, steeped. The autumn of Bon Iver is a celebration of self-acceptance and gratitude, bolstered by community and delivering the bounty of an infinite American music.

The sales and accolades are well-known - multiple Gold albums, multiple Grammys, chart-topping collaborations and festival headlines. But even more significantly, with each release Bon Iver quietly shifts the state of modern music. From the boundaries of folk, to the rules of autotune, to production work for others, Bon Iver’s fingerprint finds its way across the mainstream every time. Vernon has always been a master collaborator and on ‘i,i’ that desire becomes maximal, with guests ranging from Moses Sumney and Bruce Hornsby to Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Here, the music - and band and themes and creative space - are bigger than ever.

Label Review.

1972 album.

Our Overview.

Collector’s Reissue - 180 gram vinyl - Original Artwork - Limited Edition. Reissue of the long unavailable 1972 recording by the influential Caetano Veloso, considered the leading figure in Brazil’s Tropicalia movement. ‘Transa’ marks Veloso’s fourth album and like its predecessor, it was recorded while he was exiled in London.

Caetano himself considers it one of his favourite records and regards “Nine Out of Ten” as his best song in English. ‘Transa’ was listed by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the 10 best Brazilian albums ever. It remains one of the MPB’s essential albums.

‘Transa’ is generally regarded as a classic and was recorded while the artist was exiled in London, though he returned to Brazil shortly after completing it. The sound of ‘70s electric rock predominates, fused with Brazilian rhythms and percussion, berimbau sounds, and his own violão playing. Perhaps this is why this album has gained in stature over the years. It offers enough Western styles to keep outsiders interested but also sounds undoubtedly Brazilian. It also helps that it features strong numbers as “You Don’t Know Me”, “Nine out of Ten” (his best song in English according to Caetano himself), “Neolithic Man” and “Mora Na Filosofia” (a song that originally caused uproar thanks to its rock treatment of a classic samba). “Nostalgia (That’s What Rock ‘n’ Roll Is All About)” can also be seen as the template for Devendra Banhart’s first albums. Transa was listed by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the 10 best Brazilian albums ever and Pitchfork elected “You Don’t Know Me” as the 73rd best song from the seventies.

Track Listing:

1. You Don’t Know Me

2. Nine Out Of Ten

3. Triste Bahia

4. It’s A Long Way

5. Mora Na Filosofia

6. Neolithic Man

7. Nostalgia (that’s What Rock’n Roll I All About)

Label Review. 

1969 album. New 2019 stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. Also available on CD, 2CD, 3CD+Blu-ray+Book, and Triple Vinyl. 

Just as famous as it’s cover photograph of the Fab Four crossing the road which gave the album its name, thus bestowing the studio where The Beatles most of their output with legendary status, ‘Abbey Road’ is at the top of many fans ‘Best Beatles Album’ lists. It was the last album they started although not the last to be released and has a smoothness missing from their previous record, ‘The Beatles’ aka ‘The White Album’. The collection contains some of the band’s best loved tracks from John’s “Come Together” to Ringo Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden” and to two of George Harrison’s most popular songs: “Something” and “Here Comes To Sun”. Most of Paul McCartney’s work went into the medley on side two with four movements of “You Never Give Me Your Money” the highlight of his tracks.

The story goes that after the bad tempered and rudderless ‘Get Back’ sessions, the band approached their famed producer George Martin to request his guidance in making a new ‘proper’ album with no mucking around. Commencing work on 22nd February with John Lennon’s moody latin flavoured rocker “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” the band in relaxed mode worked on seven tracks over the next couple of months, two of which became their new single: “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” / “Old Brown Shoe”.

Following a two month break, the band got underway again on 1st July 1969 to continue work on the other five songs and blast their way through the rest of the album. The centre point of the record was “The Long One”, Paul McCartney and Martin’s vision of a side long medley or suite of tracks. In the end it wasn’t a whole side but still eight songs and 16 minutes long. Aside from this, the individual numbers, were some of the groups best - a classic case of “saving the best ‘til last”. Another novelty on this album was George’s Moog Synthesizer which was utilised on several tracks adding some early electronica to the proceedings!

As the group were approaching the home straight there was still the question of the front cover. After the idea of flying to the Himalayas for a photo shoot and calling the album ‘Everest’ was rejected someone said “why not just go outside?”. McCartney got his sketchbook out and then the four crossed the zebra crossing outside the studio with photographer Iain Macmillan shooting just six images of which Macca selected the one which would go on to become one of the most identifiable album cover photos ever. Thousands of fans still flock to the crossing every year for photo opportunities and to scribble on the wall outside the studio!

Label Review. 

2019 album on 7 seven inch singles. Also available on CD, and vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

The amazing Chrissie Hynde displays yet another volte face in her incredible career with the release of her new covers album ‘Valve Bone Woe’ which was produced by Marius De Vries and Eldad Guetta and recorded with the Valve Bone Woe Ensemble at Air Studios in London. The album features 14 tracks written by a stunning array of classic songwriters and innovators, including Brian Wilson, Frank Sinatra, Hoagy Carmichael, Charlie Mingus, John Coltrane, Nick Drake, Ray Davies and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Chrissie explains: “I’m not hugely interested in branching out into other musical genres, being a devout rock singer and such, but jazz is something I grew up around (thanks to my bro) and I’ve always had a soft spot for it. I often bemoan what I regard as a decline in melody in popular music and I wanted to sing melodies. Plus, I have a penchant for cover songs, it’s the surprise of singing something that I didn’t think of writing myself that turns me on. Jazz got side-lined by Rock & Roll in the 60’s, but now the demise of rock seems to be heralding in a newfound interest in it, the most creative and innovative musical forms of the 20th century. I’m happy to jump on the bandwagon.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Hip hop, avant-pop, and psych-rock. Also available on vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Yoni Wolf has spent the last two decades traveling the remote sonic terrain where underground hip hop, avant-pop, and psych-rock meet. On ‘Aokohio’, Yoni Wolf condenses the essential elements of WHY? into a stunningly potent musical vision. Co-produced by Wolf and his brother Josiah, the record presents a rich palette of musical voices that emerge and disappear into a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of sound. And while ‘Aokohio’ features many notable guest contributors, from Lala Lala’s Lillie West, to Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso, the listener’s attention remains squarely directed on Yoni’s voice and vision.

‘Aokohio’ finds Yoni rethinking fundamental aspects of his approach to creating and delivering his music. The album is presented as six movements comprised of two to four songs each, with some segments appearing as brief fragments that dissolve within seconds. The concept of sharing ‘Aokohio’ in segments over time has been preserved with the release of an accompanying visual album-with the first three segments directed by Sundance award-winner Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, who is also the mastermind of the overarching video project.

‘Aokohio’ feels like a consequential addition to the WHY? catalog, possibly even an artistic turning point. But its creator remains circumspect when asked to comment on the album’s significance within his discography, instead preferring to characterize the work as the latest iteration of his deep commitment to his artistic practice. “I have no idea if this record is good or not,” Yoni says. “But I never really know. I know that I’ve never written a song that’s indispensable to the American songbook. But in terms of what it is, it’s a piece of art. I put blood, sweat, and tears into this album, and struggled through the creative process as I always do. As far as where this sits with the rest of my albums? I can’t answer that. I just know that my career is a lifelong career, and I’m working it. Every time it feels right, it makes me feel good.”

Label Review. 

2019 album. Singer songwriter. Also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

Kentucky based folk-country singer-songwriter Joan Shelley - who makes music that in a word is just gorgeous - is releasing her masterful fifth solo album ‘Like The River Loves The Sea’ of which Shelley says of the collection: “These songs deal with the nest that is Kentucky. There’s a saying that goes something like, “When the world comes to an end, I want to be in Kentucky where it's always 5 years behind.” The water they say is good for distilling bourbon. There is something in the water. And what it produces in its people is alternately Dionysian and Apollonian.” 

“Woven into the melodies and rhythms of these songs are fragments of the many musical traditions that comprise what we now call Kentucky music: Irish, British, and African to name a few. The best music would be a conversation with the divine that has seen all of it, or with the oldest trees that have witnessed the whole human story. These songs are partly that conversation, at times through the lens of lovers. They are also a longing cry born of all the dividing; a call across the slowly spreading ocean. Primarily, Like the River Loves the Sea is built as a haven for overstimulated heads in uncertain times. The title (which comes from a song by Si Kahn) speaks of the inevitable and at times indifferent nature of love. Whether it be a physical place or an idea, everyone needs a place of comfort. One where we can look out again from that place of calm and see how to best act and to be in an uncertain world.”

‘Like The River Loves The Sea’ was recorded at Greenhaus studios in Reykjavik, Iceland with Shelley and James Elkington serving as co-producers.  The twelve songs were recorded primarily over 5 days, with Elkington and Nathan Salsburg serving as the backing band.  A pair of Icelandic sisters: Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir and Sigrún Kristbjörg Jónsdóttir added strings.

Label Review. 

The Story Of Naptown’s Motown (1969-1972)

Our Overview. 

Sometimes, all it takes is one man to recognize a city’s potential for an industry. In Indianapolis, that man was Herb Miller, and his business was soul and funk. He came to prominence long after Indy’s allure as a jazz destination waned. He founded LAMP Records (Layden And Miller Productions) in the late 1960s to wake Naptown [nickname for India’nap’polis] from its musical slumber.

Miller served a critical role in city’s burgeoning soul and funk scene, providing not only financial backing, but acting as a one-stop, record-making shop for artists that had, to that point, been doing it all themselves. He’s the Berry Gordy you’ve never heard of. His roster – national acts like the Vanguards and Ebony Rhythm Band alongside talented, regional acts such as the Moonlighters, Montiques, Pearls and the Words of Wisdom Truth Revue – rivaled that of any American independent and paved the way for the ascension of 80s and 90s hitmakers Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Antonio “L.A.” Reid, both of whom cut their teeth with LAMP alumnus.

This is the complete collection: Every soul, funk, gospel, rock track from Indianapolis’s greatest label on a 4 CD set!

Label Review. 

1979 live album remastered and expanded.

Our Overview. 

The Ramones are today heralded as the probably the best of the New York punk band’s to emerge in the mid-70s. Following their classic four album run in two and half years (‘The Ramones’, ‘Leave Home’, ‘Rocket To Russia’, and ‘Road To Ruin’) all of which have received deluxe 40th Anniversary editions, it is now the turn of their first live album, ‘It’s Alive’ to get the expanded treatment.

‘It’s Alive’ delivered a blistering barrage of live takes on classic tracks from the band’s first three albums. Originally recorded in London on New Year’s Eve 1977 and eventually released as a double album in 1979. This set features all four concerts that were professionally recorded during the Ramones’ UK tour in December 1977, three making their debut release: Top Rank, Birmingham (December 28, 1977); Victoria Hall, Stoke-On-Trent (December 29, 1977); Friars, Aylesbury (December 30, 1977); and The Rainbow Theatre, London (December 31, 1977). All remastered with 12x12 hardback book. Ltd to 8000 copies.

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

‘Is Not Defeated’, is the American post rock band - The Ascent Of Everest’s first release in nine years and it is an album from a tight-knit community of musicians who assembled, lived together, and wrote music together in non-traditional ways. it’s an album of intricate compositions and sincere passion, culminating in an emotional and cathartic zenith. The Ascent Of Everest is a formed by Devin Lamp (guitar, vocals), Keller McDivitt (guitar), Drew Binkley (bass), Casey Kaufman (cello, strings), Dillon Smith (violin, strings), Chris Click (piano) and Michael Thurmon (drums, percussion). 

The Ascent Of Everest is metaphor for ambitious goals, partly the synthesis of genre and fusion of musical traditions but also to articulate abstract emotional places and states of being. some will be quick to pick out bits that could be called post rock metal doom electronic shoegaze neoclassical post minimalist etc. but shy from saying what the ultimate result is: this is about the journey into the unknown, fiercely new territories.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Returning eight years after their second album ‘Pala’, English Indie Dance trio Friendly Fires are finally back with number three, ‘Inflorescent’. With help from producers and co-producers Mark Ralph, James Ford, and Disclosure, Friendly Fires spent 18 months finishing the LP at a variety of London studios. The band said, “Equally informed by experiencing the here and now, by hanging out and dancing in clubs together as a trio again, it’s a record very much about living in the present; about not being afraid, seizing the moment, casting aside doubts and pursuing the things you love.”

The trio emerged in 2008 signed to XL Recordings who issued their self-titled debut album. The record neatly replicated the energy of their live shows and they made enough of an impression to be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize the following year. Second album ‘Pala’ appeared in 2011 and mixed 80s pop and Ibiza culture into a “blissful collision of euphoria and reflection”. Although the group quickly began work on a follow-up, it seemed inspiration wasn’t forthcoming and the band members worked on other projects until a couple of years ago when they reconvened and new material started to appear in 2018.

If the singles issued so far are anything to go by, starving FF fans have not been disappointed, with the new material picking up where the group left off, retaining their love of 1980s pop, big choruses and current club sounds. A summer smash beckons!

Label Review. 

12 tracks of up front, eclectic, super rare, funk-edge and feel good dancefloor soul.

Our Overview. 

’Time And Place’ is an uplifting, get down on the floor and do “ya thang” album replete with 12 tracks of up-front, eclectic, super rare, funky edged and feel good Dancefloor Soul. In association with Soul Shack DJ’s, Club Soul present the “Time” and the “Place” to Shake the Shack! With album launch party at the Custard Factory in Birmingham featuring DJ’s Neil Rushton, Roger Hayward, Dean “Sunshine” Smith, Jordi Ripolles, Sean T Taylor and Tim Everett.

The Soul Shack manifesto is stark - let your body take the place of your mind, and this new compilation on the Club Soul label is a tough-as-nails route to keeping the groove. The popular Soul Shack sessions in the Midlands being run by Neil Rushton are a homage to mind-blowing and spine-tingling black music gems. They encompass the preciseness of cerebral jazz fusion, the simple rawness of New Orleans funk, Nuyorican Latin Strut frenzy, the rhythm-driven angry polemics of Gil Scott-Heron, the sheen of Philly Soul, Big Apple Soul Disco and the Soul and Funk of Detroit’s many music alchemists. These are all integral parts of a time and place called Soul Shack - and this record is the soundtrack.

This LP edition of ‘Time & Place’ is presented on heavyweight audiophile 180gm vinyl in a single sleeve with Club Soul insert and sleeve notes by Neil Rushton. It joins a growing catalogue of premium music on Club Soul - including the 16-track crossover and modern soul LP ‘Shades of Soul’ and newly compile records that celebrate the clubs of the original Northern Soul Scene - The Scene Club, The Twisted Wheel, Wigan Casino Soul Club, Catacombs and The Golden Torch.

Label Review.

2019 album. Space rock. Also available on Vinyl.

Our Overview.

Out of the woods of Washington State and the urban zones of Maryland come the combined mystical, shredding folk-infused sounds of Prana Crafter (a.k.a. William Sol) and Tarotplane (PJ Dorsey), a cosmic mind meld from two of the best guitarists working in the realm of modern “Kosmische Musik”. Symbiose is a split LP featuring the talents of both Prana Crafter and Tarotplane exploring the sounds from the edge of the universe…….and beyond. It’s a stunningly beautiful trip among the stars, gently ebbing and flowing through dreamlike states that border on the transcendental. The two tracks that make up Symbiose were composed independently but with the intentional goal of presenting a unified, comprehensive, work of modern kosmiche that offers the listener a unique journey on each side of the record, a bit like passing through different dream realms in one continuous slumber, a changing of moods and textures, all while certain elements remain common between the two canvases, between the two kosmic dreamscapes.

‘Symbiose’ is a split LP featuring two panoramic deep-field oozers that sustain interest, gently wandering the cosmos, through smoke rings and across star clusters, filling the space that stretches between Eastern and Western America and continuing the musical thread that connects modern American underground artists to the European birth of kosmic music.

Like Popol Vuh and Ash Ra Tempel, ‘Symbiose’ sinks its roots into the liminal landscape of the listeners neuro-hemispheres, creeping like black-light illuminated mycelium, passing through subterranean pathways of inner experience, emotion, and vision. Those who love modern acts like MV & EE and Ben Chasny will likely enjoy this album as much as European space rock and Pink Floyd aficionados, because this Symbiose is an interaction between two organisms to the advantage of all.

Although primarily known as a Acid Folk artist, Prana Crafter (aka Will Sol) has a passion for the mellower more psychedelic side of early 70s Krautrock and cites Kosmische pioneers such as Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel and Agitation Free as influences and this is clearly evident in his music. Slowly building a reputation from his early records on Sunrise Ocean Bender and Eiderdown along with touring with Wooden Shjips, Prana Crafter is now starting reach a wider audience with releases on Beyond Beyond Is Beyond and his albums now available in Europe through Cardinal Fuzz, his contribution to Symbiose is no doubt his best work to date. Beamed from space via the Washington woods, ”Jagged Mountain Melts at Dawn” blends a rural acoustic ambience with shards of cosmic fire. Running at just about 20 minutes in length, channeling early records by Manuel Göttsching the track layers guitars and subtle synth washes immersing the listener in a deep pool of sound. It’s the first time that Prana Crafter has really got his Kosmische on, letting the music flow as long as possible, stretching the themes and pushing the boundaries to the limit creating a spellbinding soundscape. It’s “head music” in it’s purest sense.

Flip the disk and their is some excellent music from Tarotplane. The solo project by PJ Dorsey, over the past several years Tarotplane has released albums on boutique European labels Aguirre and Lullabies For Insomniacs and much like Prana Crafter has been greatly influenced by the cosmic sounds of the early 70s. “We Move Slowly Through the Past” is a journey spiralling through the cosmos that takes in early 70s Pink Floyd as much as Krautrock. Possibly more Space Rock than Prana Crafter’s Kosmische musings, Tarotplane’s contribution to Symbiose drifts through time and space with lots of echo and delay. Mixing elements of Dave Gilmour’s more abstract guitar playing with a Krautrock sensibility in rolling waves of sound, “We Move Slowly Through the Past” shimmers with a psychedelic intensity, a sound reminiscent of AR & Machines echodelic masterpieces, a true universal dream-mind sound.

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

‘This Is Not A Safe Place’ sees rejuvenated Oxford, UK, four piece Ride reunite with revered DJ, producer and remixer Erol Alkan, who was on production duties for 2017’s ‘Weather Diaries’. Rekindling that creative partnership has once again seen Ride push their sound forward, as hypnotic rhythms and washes of lush guitars come together with leftfield electronic influences. The combination creates a sound rich in their trademark shoegaze atmosphere, whilst simultaneously sounding fresh and creatively ambitious.

‘Future Love’ is the first song to be unveiled from ‘This Is Not A Safe Place’. An unguarded, gloriously optimistic song, ‘Future Love’ brings together many of Ride’s best loved elements. Layers of guitars chime and drone as the Oxford quartet effortlessly meld shoegazing dynamics and melodic psychedelia with their distinctive Transatlantic harmonies. It’s a song steeped in the heady haze of the start of a relationship, when anything seems possible and one that’s sure to strike a chord as the shimmering start of the summer comes into view.

One of the leading lights of the early 90s shoegaze scene, Ride reformed in 2014, releasing their first album in over 20 years in 2017. ‘Weather Diaries’ was greeted by a raft of critical and commercial acclaim, reaching Number 11 in the UK Album Charts. It also saw Ride reunited with Wichita Records’ Dick Green and Mark Bowen, who worked with the band during their early years on Creation Records.

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD and Vinyl+7.

Our Overview. 

‘The Center Won’t Hold’ is the tenth studio album by the American alt/rock girl trio Sleater-Kinney, who continue to challenge the idea of what three women sound like when they create music together over the course of twenty-five years. Sleater-Kinney set a new bar for punk’s political insight and emotional impact. Now, at the height of their formidable powers, the three feminist icons continue to challenge themselves, break all the rules and push boundaries. This new creative chapter in the acclaimed band’s musical journey is poised to win over both longtime admirers and new fans alike.

‘The Center Won’t Hold’ is Sleater-Kinney’s midnight record on the doomsday clock. The rock’n’roll giants: Brownstein, Corin Tucker, and Janet Weiss, rise to meet the moment by digging deeper and sounding bigger than we’ve heard them yet. The album addresses transformation as it relates to the corrosion and decomposition of forms. Fractured and frayed by age or by loss, by internecine politics, by trauma or depression, these eleven songs ask what remains of a body, a human spirit, a relationship, a city, a country. The narrators herein sing from the brink of madness, corruption, loss, or grief. And though they speak to us from the narrow, near desperate strands to which they are consigned by others, or upon which they’ve self-exiled—feeling small, fearing obsolescence—they ask to be heard on the most sprawling of canvasses. By couching these personal stories in a sonic palette that unabashedly takes up space, what remains is a tale of survival: a treatise on female friendship, inner strength, resilience, and community.



If ‘The Center Won’t Hold’ forces a reconsideration of a band people thought they knew, it’s due to the methodologies employed in the writing and making of the album. The tools upon which Sleater-Kinney had relied proved inadequate, both metaphorically and literally, so they sought new ones. They used the geographical distance between them, along with the larger uncertainty and brokenness swirling around them, as a means of inducing and exploring sonic change. Most concretely, they worked with producer Annie Clark (St. Vincent), who treated each song as its own world, letting them find a specific vernacular through careful construction and deliberation. 

Label Review. 

2019 album. Also available on vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Oh Sees are the brainchild of John Dwyer from San Francisco, California, who has been infecting music fans ears for the last 20 years with his unique brand of garage / psych rock. There has been slight changes to the band name over the years and they really came to prominence as Thee Oh Sees between 2008-16. This new record is their third as just plain Oh Sees.

First single “Poisoned Stones” sees crunchy guitars and jazzy percussion ground the song in its metal roots, while shrill synths alienate Dwyer’s reality with extraterrestrial textures and meandering drones caked in the mix. Fantastic but simple drum fills abound. The closing track “Henchlock” wigs out for some 20 minutes. At first you may think it is a 70s jam band style take off but then the vocals come in and Dwyer and friends zoom off into their own singular trip. It is definitely worth the ride!

John himself suggests that it is: “For fans of fried prog burn out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings. If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub. Back to the comments section with you! Easy. Over and out.”

Label Review. 

2019 album also available on CD.

Our Overview. 

English alt/rock singer songwriter Frank Turner is releasing his eighth studio album ‘No Man’s Land’ a 13 track concept album that tells the stories of important, inspirational women throughout history who don’t receive the recognition they deserve. There are there are tales of musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Egyptian feminist activist Huda Sha’arawi, serial killer Nannie Doss, Byzantine princess Kassiani, and Resusci Anne –a drowned virgin whose face was used as the model for the medical CPR mannequin used throughout the globe. Says Frank “No-one else is writing these songs right now. That’s why I want to share these stories.” The announcement of No Man’s Land also sees the launch of a new podcast from Frank Turner titled Tales From No Man’s Land, which deep dives into each song on the record. The album was produced by Catherine Marks (Foals, Big Moon). 

Frank continues “The record is, first and foremost, a piece of story-telling – a history record, if you will, a pretty traditional folk approach. I didn’t actually set out to write exclusively about women. In the beginning I was just toying with various stories that felt interesting to tell (and I was keen, after my recent records, to write about something other than my own life and feelings for a while). Now, clearly, there is an implicit politics in the fact that, in telling lesser known stories, I’ve ended up singing about women, and I’ll stand behind that, for what it’s worth. But my initial interest was in sharing some stories that I didn’t know before, and that I suspect most people didn’t.

"Nevertheless, as I say, there is a political angle to the record, and it’s one I’d like to handle sensitively. I welcome intelligent, good faith discussion of the point, actually. The main question that is being asked – and it’s a fair one – is what right I have, as a man, to write songs about women. That deserves a thoughtful response from me.

"My answer comes in two parts. Firstly, for the most part, these are stories that have not and are not being told right now, and I think they deserve to be. I feel like I’m not crowding out other voices in releasing these songs. It seems to me that songs about Huda Sha’arawi and Catherine Blake, to name but two, are rather thin on the ground right now, as far as I’m aware. I’ve learned so much in researching and writing this project, and I’d like to share that knowledge. And, given the streaming world we live in, me putting out a collection of songs doesn’t lessen the bandwidth for other writers to make their own statements.

"(A brief aside – there actually are a few songs out there about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, some of which I knew about and some I didn’t. She’s one of the more famous people on the album. The point of the song, for me, is that the history of rock’n’roll is inaccurately portrayed as being dominated by white men. As one of that demographic who plays that kind of music, I felt like it was good for me to acknowledge the people who actually laid the blueprints I’m following, rather than just always banging on about Elvis – as I’ve done myself in the past. Anyways – check out other songs about her by Mary Chapin Carpenter, the Noisettes, and my friend Emily Barker).

"Secondly, I’d flip the question a bit. I’m a songwriter and a singer, writing and releasing (and then promoting) music is what I do. I could write another album about my own life, or I suppose a record about men from history, but I’m not sure I see the point (especially the latter option), and it doesn’t catch my creative interest right now. For better or worse, I have an audience who are interested in the music I make, and who will listen to the next album I put out. Having a platform, why not use it for something more interesting or worthwhile?

"I have not tried to present this record as an aggressively feminist statement. I have no issue with that word – in fact I’m very much in favour of feminism, and equality in general. But putting that first would seem overbearing to me. I’m not trying to lead a parade I have no right to lead. My approach is perhaps best summed up by the name of a group I do a lot of work with on tour – The Ally Coalition (an LGBTQ+ rights group). It seems to me that my best contribution to all of this is to be just that, an ally, to use whatever platform I have to steer the conversation amongst my audience into better territory as best I can.”